if I would be faithful to thee; and the least difficulty has made me prevaricate. Had I but once displeased thee, it were still too much; but, alas! I have multiplied my sins above the hairs of my head; they are countless. I have sinned in every place though surrounded by thy gifts; no hour of my life has been unstained with guilt, and this after thy repeated pardon. But besides my own sins, how many have I not caused others to commit! Forgive, merciful God, these crimes; I am truly sorry for them, and I detest them with my whole heart. Would I could, shed tears of an infinite sorrow to cancel every trace of such sinful ingratitude. To supply for what is wanting in me, accept, my God! of the sorrow with which Jesus, my Saviour, was overwhelmed in the Garden of Olives, and on the cross, for the sins of the whole world, and for mine in particular. Purify me from my secret sins, and pardon those I have occasioned in others. Despise not, O God, a contrite heart, which has no hope but in thy infinite mercy, and in the promise thou hast made, that when a sinner grieves for his sins, thou wilt no longer remember his iniquities. If, dear Lord, I have ceased to be thy dutiful child, thou hast not ceased to be my loving Father. I have nothing to offer in satisfaction for my sins and ingratitude, but my life; and that I give with my whole heart as a victim of propitiation, and with it I sacrifice all that I loved or enjoyed when I had the misfortune to stray from the path of virtue. At this very instant, if it should please thee to deprive me of all, I am resigned, and would think myself most happy if my death could be caused by the intensity of my sorrow, for having ever abandoned thy service.
